Wycombe MP Steve Baker has thanked those who have helped propel him into fourth place on a Conservative leadership poll – as he prepares to go skydiving.

A survey on ConservativeHome - a political blog edited by Mr Baker's Wycombe predecessor Paul Goodman - puts the former Brexit minister in fourth place on the list of favourites for the top job.

Out of a total 1,320 votes, Mr Baker got 96 - behind Michael Gove on 164, Dominic Raab on 204 and Boris Johnson in top position with 442 votes.

In a video posted on his Twitter page, alongside the hashtag StandWithSteve, Mr Baker addressed the poll – saying thank you to those who had voted for him – before going skydiving.

Bucks Free Press: The poll on ConservativeHome.

He said: “It’s a very serious thing, I've got to mull it over and I will have a serious meeting with colleagues tomorrow about what I should do. But in the meantime, I'm at a drop zone where I'm about to be going skydiving.”

He also made reference to the spoof Twitter account called @BrexitNewYorker, which writes satirical tweets about the MP.

He added: “I want to create some extra material for my satirical account @BrexitNewYorker – just to help you, I've rode here on my motorcycle.

“If you want to know more about Brexit, please don’t come to the drop zone today, just go to my website. Hope you have a great day and thank you.”

The video has been watched more than 14,000 times as of 2pm this afternoon.

And at the same time, Mr Baker had a bigger share of the Twitter conversation than any other Conservative leadership candidate.

Bucks Free Press:

 

Dozens of people have left Mr Baker messages of support in the comments to his latest video.

Linda Imrie said: “You would have my vote Steve. Get your name down, we need honesty and integrity back in British politics. It's rotten to the core at the moment. We need your help to get our country back PLEASE.”

Paul Jon Fowell added: “Your time is now Steve, go for it. You can be the first great PM of the 21st century. Deliver Brexit and restore faith in the office.”

In the ConservativeHome poll, Mr Baker got more votes than Rory Stewart (81), Jeremy Hunt (54) and Esther McVey (41).

Following the announcement last week that Prime Minister Theresa May would resign, Mr Baker told BBC News he has had “a lot of pressure” from members of the public to stand to replace her.

He said: “There is no point shying away from it – people have been asking me to stand. I have had a degree of support from across the country that I could never have foreseen."

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In another television appearance, he spoke about his possible leadership rivals Dominic Raab and Boris Johnson.

He said: “Boris and Dom are very talented people and they are clearly in the lead, but the reality os that on the third presentation of the deal, they voted for it and I did not. That’s caused people to ask me to stand. So I'm going to think about that seriously through the week.

“By the time we get to next weekend I’ll have made a decision.”

He also got the backing of fellow Brexiteer Mark Francois, who also told the BBC he "might be attracted to vote for Steve" if he stands.